Surfing Waves

i have a 7 8" mini mall board and have been surfing for a about a year so i have done the basics if ya know what i mean. but i havent really been out back much (mainly coz the waves are just too pants) but the other day they were pretty sweet so went out and was catching the waves fine.....just nose diving every single time i tried to come down the face of the wave before it has broken. I swapped with a friend for his shorter board and was doing fine. I feel i am at the stage where i wanna be out back all the time but dont want to ride a short board.....so how the can i stop the nose diving!?!?!?

From my experience, the nose dives occured when I didn't have enough momentum.
Also I found that lifting my head up a bit more while paddling helped to place the weight more at the back of the board.
Hope this helps you.

If it's nose diving before you stand then DayWalker is right, you may be too far forward on the board, or need to lean back a little as you paddle.

If it happens as you are getting up, it may be that your hands are too far forward when you pop up.

If it's happening when you are upright, then you are putting too much weight over the front. When you pop to your feet, stay low as this keeps your centre of balance low and start thinking about a bottom turn.

You can always cheat and paddle into the wave at a slight angle so that you are not dropping straight down the wave.

cheers

Sinista

cheers guys...

that does help, coz it happens when im popping up just i cant really get any further back on the board otherwise my feet are off the end and i cant pop up!
cheers for the idea of traversing across the wave i reckon that could work
il put this all into practice on my next surfing sesh!

cheers

There are a few other posts from people with this problem. Have a search and read all the other advice.

I know this may sound wierd, but try popping up from your knees on the board.

If you rode a shortboard you wouldn't be able to pop up using your feet!

Also try this. I position myself on my board so that my chin is level with the logo on the deck, then I lean back and lift my feet to an angle of about 45 degrees - this shifts the weight towards the back of the board without moving the body!

Always worth a go!!

hey yea thats an idea...so u just pop up from your knees but from further back on the board? i reckon that would work coz ur putting weight right on the back of the board.
does anyone else have this problem or is it just me being a bit of a spaz?

cheers man

if you're pearling all the time listen to Day Walker and arch your back more. when you paddle you need to be forward enough so that the nose of the board is just above the water by maybe an inch or you'll have waves passing you by. if you ever see Joel Tudor on video you'll notice he straightens his arms, arches his back, then pops up in a crouch with his weight forward. forget the getting to your knees stuff. that's a bad habit to get involved with.

When I said pop from your knees, I didn't mean get to your knees first.

I meant that if your feet are trailing off the board when you are paddling, you can't use them to pop up, so you have to push up with your arms and pop from your knees being on the tail to standing!!

This the hardest part of surfing for a beginner (pearling)
and it's something you'll correct only after you've practiced and messed up alot!
But once you've got it, the rest will fall into place ....whew

LOL! In my surfing clinic I won the award titled "nosedive champ!"


- but I also got quickest learner cuz i progressed the fastest..

just keep at it

yea i think just practice coz after a week surfing in bairritz, i dont nose dive quite so much! except when i did, i got washed so bad!

does anyone else find that they progress so much if u have like one really intense week of surfing rather than loads of little sessions?

cheers for the advice guys

jennie wrote:yea i think just practice coz after a week surfing in bairritz, i dont nose dive quite so much! except when i did, i got washed so bad!

does anyone else find that they progress so much if u have like one really intense week of surfing rather than loads of little sessions?

cheers for the advice guys

If you surf every day for a week, you will have fresh ideas of what you need to work on the next day, so I guess that is the better option. Keep in mind though practice is practice, it's what you make of it, not how many hours a week you spend doing it. (Although more hours spent is usually not ill spent)